There was more than a brotherly bond between Paul and Keith Caneiro. They shared a business, vacationed together and settled about 11 miles from each other in the suburbs of New Jersey. But two days before Thanksgiving, a horrific chain of events would forever tear them apart.

Sheriff’s investigators have begun the agonizing task of scouring through the wreckage of California’s most destructive fire on record in search of the dead. By Sunday, the death toll had reached 31, but it seemed likely to climb.